biep@cs.vu.nl (J. A. "Biep" Durieux) (10/16/87)
I am just posting this to say that I am still there, and that I have not forgotten my promise to Bob Myer. However, things may take time, for I have a lot of things to do, and netnews doesn't have top priority. I made my promise during the holidays, when life seemed easy, and then the students came back, and the research meetings (at which I am supposed to show something I did that week), and now I'm leaving for Germany for some time, so please accept my apologies, and be assured that I have still the intention to post a detailed article on how a "research machine" could come up with ideas like evolution or the movement of continents. BTW, It seems that at the moment I left the discussion, it died. I others want to continue it, pleas try to give your definition of "methodology". Many have said mine was incorrect, but none offered an alternative. -- Biep. (biep@cs.vu.nl via mcvax) Is the difference between a difference of degree and a differ- ence of sorts a difference of degree or a difference of sorts?
rjf@eagle.ukc.ac.uk (Robin Faichney) (10/28/87)
Summary: Expires: Sender: Followup-To: In article <931@klipper.cs.vu.nl> biep@cs.vu.nl (J. A. "Biep" Durieux) writes: >[..] >BTW, It seems that at the moment I left the discussion, it died. I others >want to continue it, pleas try to give your definition of "methodology". >Many have said mine was incorrect, but none offered an alternative. Concise Oxford English Dictionary: methodology n. Science of method; body of methods used in a particular branch of activity;.. I had decided, apparently like many others, to give up on this, but was stung into reaction, because I sent this definition to Biep many weeks ago, and if I remember correctly he commented on other things in the same message, so must have gotten it. Also, of course, others were saying much the same at that time. We seem to be agreed that `science of method' is one meaning. But `body of methods..' is *MUCH* weaker than Biep seems to be happy with. I can't even remember now what the implications of this are, for anything else Biep says, but I couldn't let this go past. Also, Biep, you posted an impressive list of things you thought were implied by the word, and asked for suggestions for specific changes, from anyone who disagreed. But where we are saying that your definition is too narrow, our only response must be general: your list is too restrictive, and any list which was adequate would probably take a life's work to produce. So now, Biep, the ball is in your court: what is wrong with the OED definition? Robin rjf@ukc.ac.uk